Mo Yan wins Nobel Prize in literature

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Associated Press

Updated 11:34 pm, Thursday, October 11, 2012

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In this photo taken Tuesday Aug. 2, 2011, Chinese writer Mo Yan poses for photos in a theater in Beijing. Mo was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday, Oct 11, 2012, a cause of pride for a government that had disowned the only previous Chinese winner of the award, an exiled critic. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT less

In this photo taken Tuesday Aug. 2, 2011, Chinese writer Mo Yan poses for photos in a theater in Beijing. Mo was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday, Oct 11, 2012, a cause of pride for a ... more

Photo: Associated Press

Mo Yan wins Nobel Prize in literature

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Beijing --

Novelist Mo Yan, whose popular, sprawling, bawdy tales bring to life rural China, won the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday, the first time the award has been given to a Chinese person who is not a critic of the authoritarian government. Official media and many Chinese cheered his selection.

The Swedish Academy in Stockholm, which selects the winners of the prestigious prize, announced the award to the author of dozens of novels and short stories. It praised Mo's "hallucinatory realism," saying it "merges folk tales, history and the contemporary."

The announcement brought a burst of pride across Chinese social media. The state-run national broadcaster, China Central Television, reported the news moments later, and the official writers association, of which Mo is a vice chairman, lauded the choice. But it also ignited renewed criticisms of Mo from other writers as too willing to serve or too timid to confront a government that heavily censors artists and authors and punishes those who refuse to obey.

The reactions highlight the unusual position Mo holds in Chinese literature. He is a genuinely popular writer who is embraced by the Communist establishment but who also dares, within careful limits, to tackle controversial issues such as forced abortion. His novel "The Garlic Ballads," which depicts a peasant uprising and official corruption, was banned.

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"He's one of those people who's a bit of a sharp point for the Chinese officials, yet manages to keep his head above water," said his longtime U.S. translator, Howard Goldblatt of the University of Notre Dame. "That's a fine line to walk, as you can imagine."

Typical of his ability to skirt the censors' limitations, Mo had retreated from Beijing in recent days to the rural eastern village of Gaomi, where he was raised and which is the backdrop for much of his work. He greeted the prize with characteristic low-key indifference.

"Whether getting it or not, I don't care," the 57-year-old said in a telephone interview with China Central Television from Gaomi. He said he goes to his childhood hometown every year around this time to read, write and visit his elderly father.

"I'll continue on the path I've been taking, feet on the ground, describing people's lives, describing people's emotions, writing from the standpoint of the ordinary people," said Mo, whose real name is Guan Moye and whose pen name means "don't speak."

Among the works highlighted by the Nobel judges were "Red Sorghum" (1993) and "Big Breasts & Wide Hips" (2004), as well as "The Garlic Ballads." "Frogs" (2009) looked at forced abortions and other coercive aspects of the government's policies restricting most families to one child.